All Is Well
by gawilliams
Summary: Booth needs to talk to Bones after he gets another call from his brother in the aftermath of Booth's birthday party.


Temperance was in bed wide awake. The previous evening had been an experience that she had never thought to have. She had admitted that her ordinary, and very ingrained, anthropological views of the Alpha Male were not, in fact, correct. Oh maybe when looking at a group setting, which anthropologists did for the most part, but when looking at an individual, it couldn't be more wrong. Booth had finally shown her that.

It also scared her. Her compartmentalized world views were slowly being overwhelmed by the reality that she had refused to acknowledge for all of her life, and had fought against for the entire time she had known Booth. All of the walls and bright line assumptions she had used to protect herself were now crumbled and blurred.

The question was, was it something to rejoice, or rebel against? That was what she was considering.

She'd told Booth that it was a good thing, and she had meant it in the context of what she was trying to tell him, but what of the larger implications? What would it mean to how they worked together? Could they simply readjust their regular routine with each other in the face of it all? Would their antagonistic bantering, which, despite its intensity, they both enjoyed on many levels, continue on as before? And what of her dreadful mistake of believing Jared and essentially telling Booth he was his own worst enemy, a loser even? The horror she felt when she had discovered that she had been so wrong was suffocating. She had been truly frightened that Booth would never speak to her again.

And what of her love life? Booth had been interfering for some time, and especially so after their time in England. She had been angered by it, but every time he had injected a certain degree of levity in it. This time with regards to Jared he had been very serious, and if she read the look in his eyes correctly, it wasn't just concern over his younger brothers less than stellar qualities hurting her. Booth had been genuinely jealous. If she was honest, she knew he had been jealous all of the previous times he had interfered, particularly when she had two boyfriends, one for intellectual stimulation and the other to provide her with sex. She smiled at the memory and the uproar from everyone at her having a 'boy toy' as Angela would put it.

What about this evening when she had spent time with Booth outside the bar having cake and listening to him talk about his abusive Father? A lot of women, she knew, would have hugged and held him, but she hadn't. She'd sat there sharing cake with him and listening. Booth seemed to appreciate that more than he would have a hug. Despite the pain she felt at what he had been through in his life, she felt an incredibly warm feeling inside that he trusted her, and cared about her enough to share such things.

It was time to be honest, she decided in her mind. She loved him. Regardless of all her pontificating about the irrationality of it, she was in love. It wasn't with some guy she enjoyed sleeping with, or enjoyed having a good conversation with, either. She was in love with Booth. As she admitted it to herself, she smiled up at the ceiling.

_Beep. Beep._ Her cell phone rang. Surprised that anyone would be calling her at 3 in the morning, she grabbed the cell phone and flipped it open without checking to see who it was.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Bones?" Booth's voice asked. He sounded depressed.

"Booth?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"I just found out Jared was arrested for drunk driving tonight," Booth told her.

"Are you alright?" she asked. He sounded miserable and her heart went out to him.

"He called and begged me for help, Bones," he replied. He paused for a minute. "I told him he was on his own on this one."

"Do you want to come over?" Bones asked. She didn't want him to be alone right now, and she wanted him near her. Her thoughts during the past couple of hours made her want him close by all the time if possible. "We can talk if you want," she offered.

"I'm already in your parking garage," Booth admitted. "I'll be up in a few minutes."

Bones got up and put on a robe. Making her way to the kitchen, she got the coffee started, figuring that it was needed. Booth was not in good shape if his tone was any indication. The coffee was just starting to drip into the pot when a knock on the door told her that Booth was at the door already. She hurried over to it and opened it to find him dressed haphazardly and a haggard look on his face. He'd obviously spent a great deal of time beating himself up over it. She pulled him in and sat him down on the couch.

"When did you talk to him," she asked.

"About an hour ago," he told her, confirming her suspicion that he had spent some time making himself miserable before calling her.

"You should have called me right away," she chided him.

He rubbed his hands through his short hair and sighed. "Probably," he admitted.

She placed a hand on his thigh, not really thinking of the more intimate nature of that contact. "Then why didn't you?" she asked.

"Because I didn't really want to bother you after you listened to me about my Father," Booth told her, knowing that she would not be happy about that.

She snatched her hand away. "How could you think that?" she demanded. She softened her tone. "You've always been there for me, even when you weren't really pleased with the situation," she reminded him, thinking in particular of the two boyfriends situation. "And after what I told you at the party, you should know I will always listen and be there for you."

"I felt like I was kicking the family pet," Booth said in a dreary tone.

"He needed to find out what it means to be responsible," Bones replied. She put her hand back on his thigh, again ignoring the possible implications.

"He's going to lose his commission over it," Booth told her. "The Navy doesn't take too kindly to being under the influence in vehicles. It takes an even dimmer view of irresponsible officers in key posts."

"He knew the risks and decided to push it, even after you told him that you were done getting him out of trouble," she said softly. "You can't enable him."

"I know," he responded. "That's what makes it so hard. If it wasn't enabling, then there wouldn't be any reason to be miserable. See a problem, then help solve it."

"But the problem isn't the drunk driving, Booth," Bones told him. "The problem is that Jared has a drinking problem, and he abuses the trust and caring of those he is close to. Nothing you can do will change that, and he needs to reach the bottom on his own before he will make some needed changes." She paused. "I know I said it earlier, but I need to say it again, Booth. I am very sorry for having thought those things of you and feeling that you were not as wonderful and talented as you really are."

"It's alright, Bones," Booth told her, taking her hand in his, trying to remove it from his thigh. He may love having it there, but it was pretty arousing, which was something that he had to be careful about. He may want her, but he didn't know if she wanted him.

"No, it's not," she protested. "When I realized what had happened, I was so scared that you wouldn't speak to me again. I felt like throwing up. You've never once given me any reason to doubt that you'll always be there for me, and that I can always count on you. I love you, Booth, and for one horrible moment, I forgot that."

Booth froze. She had just said that she loved him. Bones. The woman who said love was illogical and was nothing more than a fallacy. "What did you say?" he asked, clearly very nervous.

She smiled shyly. "I said I love you, Booth," she told him again. She had wanted to tell him of her newfound realization soon, but had not expected to tonight.

"Wow," he said with a shocked expression on his face. "Really?"

Her smile widened. "I know," she told him. "I've always tried to call love irrational and ridiculous, but that's where you've influenced me, too. I was doing a lot of thinking tonight and it finally hit me that I'm in love with you. I have been for a long time, I guess."

"I love you, too, Bones," he said with a smile of his own. He chuckled. "Sweets would have a field day if he could see us now."

Bones got a scrunched up look on her face. "I don't know what that means," she told him honestly. It frustrated her that she didn't understand so many common phrases and references, but Booth had always been patient with her on that.

"It means we'd be in his office for hours as he analyzed what we just admitted," Booth explained.

"Psychologists," Bones muttered. She still did not consider psychology real science, though she had to admit that Dr. Sweets was a nice enough person who was really trying to do some good for them. Deciding that that subject could wait for another day, she took her hand back and placed it on Booth's thigh again, only a little higher up now. "I'd like you to stay here tonight," she told him.

"What?" Booth tried to comprehend. Her hand was making it very difficult. He felt like some hormonal teenager with his first serious girlfriend.

"I don't think you should be alone tonight while you're dealing with what happened to Jared," she explained.

She also didn't say that she wanted him in her bed with her so she could hold him and comfort him. It wasn't time for sex, though she wasn't averse to that if it happened. She was a sexual person who had never lacked for 'companionship' if she wanted it, but this was Booth. She was also in love. She wanted this relationship to happen in a good way and move ahead when both were ready to take some steps together. Standing up, she offered him her hand.

"Come on," she told him. "I don't know about you, but I need some sleep if I'm going to get some work done tomorrow."

Booth took her hand and let her lead him into her bedroom. If he was shocked that she hadn't meant the guest bedroom, he didn't show it. This was her decision, and he was too much of a gentleman to try and force any issue with her when it came to this kind of change in their relationship. He watched, fascinated, as she took off the robe she had been wearing. She was now wearing only a rather sexy pair of panties and a simple tank top. He swallowed hard, trying to tamp down his reaction to her in that. When she turned and raised a brow, he quickly shed his clothes and got into bed, with her sliding under the sheets next to him, being careful not to jostle her injured arm too much. She hadn't worn the sling the entire time he'd been here so far, and wearing it in bed would have been awkward regardless.

Bones snuggled in close to him and placed her injured arm across his chest, with her head pillowed just above. This felt right, she thought. Her anxieties of earlier were coming down with just him here. Then a slight grin formed.

"Booth?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm going to come in tomorrow and reapply for an issue gun from the FBI," she told him. "I figure with this new level of trust and the fact that we expressed our true feelings, that I've proven myself."

Booth smiled. "Cool," he said with a chuckle. "Come on down and we'll go through the whole review again. And guess what?"

"What's that?" she grinned.

"I just got a new ink pad for my 'DENIED' stamp," he informed her triumphantly.

"Damn," he heard her mumble. That was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep. Life was definitely good. Not perfect, but with Bones at his side, it was damn good. He'd worry about Jared when his younger brother came to see him when the shit hit the fan.


End file.
